U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,155 discloses a tubular aperture fluorescent lamp having a base with two connecting pins at one end. The lamp additionally has, parallel to the tube longitudinal axis, two diametrically arranged strip-type electrodes, one on the outer side and the other on the inner side of the discharge vessel wall. The two electrodes are connected to the two connecting pins in the interior of the base. For their part, the connecting pins are connected to the two poles of a pulse voltage source via electrical lines. The lamp is distinguished by a relatively high useful radiation efficiency.